November 10, 2009

I recently revealed that I’m trying to kick my soda habit. For the most part, I’ve been doing pretty well – last night, when a Diet Coke rush overcame me before the start of Tokyo Dogs (not as good as Buzzer Beat, by the way, but people get shot at so it evens out), I didn’t succumb and just drank water instead. Progress!

I failed to mention, however, the rules go out the window when I find a weird Japanese soda, as I did this morning at Circle K. Coca-Cola hops on the health craze I didn’t know existed in Japan and now offers “Coca-Cola no calorie plus fiber.”

Yes, the selling point for this drink is it offers you the same perks of Metamucil. Is there an unsexier way to sell something than that?

I guess it isn’t that much different than the “healthy” version of Coke they released in America a while back, the one offering more vitamins and minerals. It’s Coca-Cola’s way of trying to sell a drink that’s “healthy” only in the sense you are getting a tiny amount of good things while you destroy the rest of your body.

How does it taste?

Uhhhhh, almost exactly like the healthy Coke mentioned above. I think someone’s lying to the world about the benefits of this drink. It tastes like watered down Diet Coke (it’s possible), the faintest cola taste hiding beneath waves of nothing. Imagine any store-brand cola, something named “Shazam” or “Shasta,” and you’ve got Coca-Cola Plus Fiber Boring Drink.

Oh, but the fun food finds continue! I also noticed a new flavor of Pringles at the convenience store, the snowmen and snowflakes dotting the can indicating this is a special winter flavor. That flavor???

Errrr, I’m not sure based off the picture.

Is it…cheesecake? Some sort of dessert item? I don’t know what cakes the Japanese eat during the colder months so this could be anything. Well, time to practice my Japanese skills. The wording in front of the mystery-food is in Katakana, the alphabet used for foreign words. Let me try to decode this…

Ho-wa-i-to Ke-ri-mu-chi-zu. I…still am not sure.

Eating the chips doesn’t shine any light on the mystery. There is a fine layer of chip dust on every offering reminiscent of a Cheese Pringle…but they don’t taste really cheesy. They are…powdery? Is that even a flavor? The chips aren’t bad, but the weirdness of the texture never really goes away no matter how many you eat.

So…anyone know what that thing on the can is? So I can feel better about what I’ve consumed today?